Diwali Gift for Govt Employees as Dearness Allowance Hiked By 5% to 17%

New Delhi: Ahead of the festive season, the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to hike Dearness Allowance of government employees by 5 per cent to 17%. The move was announced by Union Minister Prakash Javadekar and will benefit 50 lakh government employees and 62 lakh pensioners.

The DA now stands at 17%, an increase from last year’s 12%, Javadekar said, calling it a “Diwali gift” for employees. The proposal is set to cost the exchequer a total of Rs 16,000 crore.

Dearness allowance is a cost of living adjustment allowance paid to government employees, public sector employees and pensioners and is calculated as a percentage of basic salary to mitigate the impact of inflation.

Javadekar also said the Cabinet has decided to relax till November 30 the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar seeding for release of benefits under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi after August 1.

The minister added: “It has been decided that 5,300 displaced families who had settled in regions others than J&K but later came to the state will also be provided Rs 5.5 lakh each. This will provide justice to these displaced families.”